Category: Family History

This post concludes the story of the land and house which Elizabeth and I purchased in Dungog a few years ago. I have traced the early landholders for this property (1848–1858), Daniel and Sarah Bruyn and their family (from 1858 to 1882) and then two of their children, Daniel Justin Bryan (d.1912) and his sister, Ellen Bruyn. In this blog, the story continues to the people who bought house in 1969, the Finneys.

An interesting report in the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Tuesday 14 June 1927, p.18, entitled ARE WINTERS MILDER, quotes a “Mrs. [sic.] Ellen Bruyn, who has spent 71 years at Dungog” as declaring that “the winters of late years had be come milder, and the summers hotter, and drier”. It is interesting to see such an early observation relating to what we know now to be human-exacerbated climate change, as the average annual temperature is rising at a worrying level.

The Telegraph notes that “she quoted no thermometer readings to support her contention, but said she could speak with personal experience of the seasons, coupled with her observations of the less rigorous effects of recent winters upon vegetation in the gardens which adorn her residence.” Indeed: that would be the cottage garden at the front of her property, that is evident in the one photo of the house that is extant, as noted earlier.

Ellen Bruyn’s Will

Ellen’s father had died intestate. Her property and goods were not to be caught in the same way; on 4 August 1925 Ellen Bruyn, then aged 85 years, made her Last Will and Testament, in which she appointed George Alexander Mackay, Thomas Edward Monaghan and Robert Kendall Hobbs the Executors. Just two years and two months later, on 2nd October 1927, Ellen Bruyn died. Probate was subsequently granted on 1 November 1927.

In an article in the Dungog Chronicle of Tuesday 4 October 1927, page 2, tribute was paid to Ellen Bruyn. “During her life-time Miss Bruyn was known far and wide for her benevolent nature and broad-minded charities. None that ever besought her help went away empty-handed.”

Reports of her estate indicate this extensive benevolence, with a lengthy report in the Sydney Morning Herald of Friday 4 Nov 1927, on p.6, providing details. The article is headed simply LATE MISS E. BRUYN. It notes that she left an estate “of the net value of £20,106”. A similar notice in the Maitland Weekly Mercury of 3 Nov 1927, p.5, reports that “the estate of the late Miss Ellen Bruyn, of Dungog, who died last month, aged 88, has been valued for probate purposes at £20,116”. The calculator provided by the Reserve Bank of Australia indicates that in 2023 this sum of money would be worth $1,932,438.79.

This was managed by a Trust established by the appointment of as George Alexander Mackay, Thomas Edward Monaghan and Robert Kendall Hobbs as Executors and Trustees in Ellen Bruyn’s 1925 will. Between 1932 and 1941, all three Trustees died; in February 1942 George Mackay, Donald Reay Mackay and Robert John Alison were appointed as “Trustees of the Will of the said Ellen Bruyn in the place of the deceased original Trustees”.

In this 1942 process, the components of the 1925 will forming the Trust were specified, in particular, as “£1000 secured by Memorandum of Mortgage 18 Dec 1928 for land at Heydon St Mosman; £1700 fixed deposit with Commercial Banking Company; £67.14.3 on account with Commercial Banking Company; Land in Brown Street Dungog on which is erected a dwelling house and other improvements being Lots 6 and 7 of Section 5 Town of Dungog; Vacant land in Mackay Street Dungog being Lots 4 and 5 Section 5 Town of Dungog”.

As far as the distribution of various elements of this estate was concerned, the SMH article provides specific details. It first notes that Ellen had “devised certain lands in Mackay-street, Dungog, to the local council, to be held by them in trust as a play and recreation ground for children; if, after a period of 20 years, the council did not think it advisable to use them as such, the lands were to be sold, and the net proceeds paid to the funds of the Roman Catholic Church at Dungog.” In 2024, the Council still maintains land on Mackay Street which is called Bruyn Park; it abuts the southern end of Jubilee Park, which runs along the western boundary of the Brown Street property once owned by the Bruyns.

Furthermore, Ellen took care to provide for her family, as “she devised certain real estate and £1500 to maintain it to her nephew, Joseph Thomas Bruyn, and his sons, £1500 each to her three sisters, Margaret Monaghan, Elizabeth Ann Cooke, and Sarah Malvina Lawless, and their daughters”.

The various charitable organisations that Ellen remembered in her will are signalled through this list of bequests: “£1000 to the Deaf and Dumb Institution conducted by the Dominican Nuns at Waratah, £500 to the Sisters of St. Joseph at Lochinvar, £500 to the Dr. Murray Catholic Orphanage at West Maitland, Waitara Foundling Home conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, £1000 to the Dungog Cottage Hospital”.

In addition, Ellen had directed that “the interest from the investment of £200 [was to be used] for the upkeep of the graves in the local cemetery of herself and relatives of the name of Bruyn for a period of 25 years from the date of her death; at the expiration of that period the £200 to be paid to the local Roman Catholic Church; £100 to the Roman Catholic curate at Dungog, and the residue of her estate to relatives and others”.

Dungog Cottage Hospital

One significant matter identified in this will relates to the Dungog Hospital. Daniel had been appointed as one of the foundation members of the hospital committee in 1891. Ellen must have been actively involved in the years after Hospital Cottage was opened in 1892. One item in her will was that she bequeathed “£1000 to Dungog Hospital, the interest to be used for 20 years and then the principal to go to the committee” (Sydney Catholic Press, Thursday 13 October 1927, p.41).

Annual distributions in accordance with this bequest are reported in the Dungog Hospital reports over the two decades after Ellen’s death. The Dungog Chronicle reported that £17/10/- (three months interest) was paid in Sept 1929; however, over a period of years, there was no interest paid, occasioning legal communications regarding the accumulated amounts that had not been paid.

From 1939, interest was paid more regularly: £71/3/10 in Aug 1939, £43/-/- in May 1940, £7/12/- and £4/15/- in Sept 1941, £44/5/9 and £136/6 in Sept 1942, as well as “an advance of subsidy for £28/6/8 and a special grant of £1/15/-“, followed by £10/1/9 in Oct 1942, £8/5/- in Feb 1943, “the usual subsidy of £28/6/8 … and a further amount of £51/6/8, being arrears of subsidy for the year commencing 1/7/42”. This presumably satisfied the accumulated amount due that had not been paid in earlier years.

The Hospital then received £45/4/5 in Sept 1943, £28/-/- in Sept 1944, £27/15/9 in May 1945, £23/18/9 in Oct 1945, £10/1/9 in June 1946, £47/-/- in Aug 1946, £31/16/9 in Feb 1947, £16/14/- in April 1947, and £23/9/6 in Aug 1947. In that month, the Hospital Board was advised that “the 20-year period of this investment in house properly at Mosman expires on 2/10/1947, and the matter has been placed in the hands of the Hospital’s Honorary Solicitors, Messrs. Borthwick and Wilson”.

Nevertheless, £11/2/4 was received in Jan 1948, £12/2/10 in June 1948, and £12/7/9 in July 1948. The income over the years had been generated through an investment in a property in Mosman; the property now needed extensive repairs, so at the Jan 1949 meeting, “it was moved by Messrs. Scott and Irwin that a copy of the Commission’s letter be forwarded to Messrs. Borthwick and Wilson and that they be requested to instruct solicitors for the Bruyn Trustees to take necessary action as set out in the Commission’s letter”.

A further £12/7/9 was paid in Sept 1949, while “Hospital’s Honorary Solicitors have been requested to instruct the Solicitors for the Bruyn Trustees to take necessary steps to obtain consent of the Moratorium Court to sell the property prior to its being offered for auction sale”.

In July 1951, the Secretary advised the Board that “a cheque for £111/1/3 had been received through Messrs Enright Son and Atkin, being rent received from Messrs. Richardson & Wrench Ltd., from 2/7/1948 to 18/6/1951, less collection charges, exchange, repairs, and rates”.

In July 1953, “£52/13/5, being rent collected in connection with the Bruyn Bequest”, was received. This was the last payment that has been found through reports accessed in Trove’s collection of newspapers.

The Sale of Brown Street

The last act of the Trustees of the Ellen Bruyn Bequest, in 1969, was to place the property on Brown Street up for sale. The documentation received relating to the Brown Street property for the period from 1927 to 1969 concludes with a document that notes the various changes in personnel in those Trustees, and a 1969 Conveyance. It is most likely that the property was rented out for this period of time, thereby bringing in a regular income to the Trust.

On 30 June 1967, George Dark was appointed Trustee in place of George Mackay and Donald Reay Mackay, joining Robert John Alison as continuing Trustee. Then, on 8 April 1968, these Trustees appointed the Public Trustee “to accept the trusts of the will accordingly”. The trusts were comprised of “Land in Brown Street, Dungog on which is erected a dwelling house and other improvements being Lots 6 and 7 of Section 5 Town of Dungog; Special Bonds Series “I” due September 1970 $1,600 Treasury Bonds held by the Commercial Banking Co.; Commonwealth Treasury Bonds August 1975 — 5 — $1,400; Current Account Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney Limited Dungog — $13.15”.

And so it was that in 1969, Victor Jack Finney and Wendy Elizabeth Finney purchased this property. In a Conveyance dated 24th May 1969, between “the Public Trustee as Trustee of the will of Ellen Bruyn, late of Dungog, Spinster deceased, and Victor Jack Finney of Dungog, Evaporator Operator, and Wendy Elizabeth Finney of Dungog, his wife”, Lot No. Seven of Section No. Five and Lot No. Six of Section No. Five were purchased for three thousand five hundred dollars. A new set of owners would, in time, move into the house and begin a new era.

For earlier blogs, see

I am continuing the story of the land and house which Elizabeth and I purchased in Dungog a few years ago, after having traced the early landholders for this property (1848–1858), Daniel and Sarah Bruyn and their family (from 1858 to 1882) and then two of their children, Daniel Justin Bryan (d.1912) and his sister, Ellen Bruyn.

At some point in the latter part of the period of growth in the town of Dungog in the late 19th and early 20th century, the solid double/brick building that still sits on the Bruyn’s land in Brown St was built. Its style reflects certain Arts and Craft features of the late 19th century; although compared to the extravagance of some Arts and Crafts buildings, it is modest in its scope, which most likely reflects the life and tastes of Ellen Bruyn.

The original double-brick building has six equal-sized rooms coming off a central hallway, each with a single window, high ceilings, and picture rails about 8 feet from the floor. There are fireplaces in three rooms.

The house has a verandah at the front with fine curved brickwork, and what appears (under the later additions) to have been a back verandah which would have led to a kitchen and washing tub in an outhouse. There is no bathroom in the brick structure; indoor plumbing was only beginning in the richer urban areas in the late 19th century, and slowly spread into the homes of those who could afford it in the early decades of the 20th century. The present house has a mid-20th century addition at the rear which includes all rooms requiring plumbing (kitchen, toilet, bathroom, and laundry).

Elizabeth has found architect plans for buildings of a similar (if more modest) layout in the online “Living History” archives of Newcastle University. These include plans drawn up by the first architect of the area, John W. Pender, who designed a residence for Mr. J. Quigan, built in West Maitland in 1875; the Wesleyan Parsonage in Dungog, completed in 1878; and a residence for D. Logan Esq., built in Bolwarra in 1909. All three properties share a similar floor plan, which in turn is close to the Brown St layout.

In the 1880s, the youthful trainee architect J. Warren Scobie (1863—1946) served his apprenticeship in West Maitland with Pender, the sole architect in the area at that time. He must have been influenced by Pender’s design habits. Les Reedman, in Early Architects of the Hunter Region (2008) reports that “Scobie designed every type of building in the Hunter and as far as the Queensland border and Gunnedah” (p.118). After the 1893 flood, he designed the Lorn Embankment; “according to his theory, designed the bank to conform to the fall of the river after the 1893 flood” (Reedman, p.119).

Scobie designed buildings in Maitland, including the 1889 Town Hall; Lorn, including Flagstaff, where he lived, Stockton (where he lived for some of the 1910s); two churches in Largs; 10 out of the 28 hotels built in the Cessnock—Kurri Kurri Coalfields in the early 20th century; and in Gloucester, Gunnedah, and Dungog.

A writer with the pen-name “Nemo” (meaning “nobody”), contributing news of the Dungog Presbyterian Church in the Maitland Mercury of 29 January 1905, p.16, waxes lyrical in reporting that in Dungog “Presbyterianism … has built itself a new religious home; a neat, choice design, not pretentious, not elaborate, but just fit for its purpose. It is good to look at. It makes one feel like being in church, its position is of the best, and it is now one of the chief ornaments of the town. It is a sort of poem in architecture, the happy inspiration of Mr. J. Warren Scobie of this town [that is, Maitland] and built by Mr. Noad of the East.” A detailed and fawning description of the building concludes the article.

An article in the Maitland Mercury of Friday 24 January 1913, p.2, tells of the new shop erected for Mr. E. Grierson. “The appearance of Dungog suggests to the casual observer that it must possess a number of enterprising and progressive business men, inasmuch as the principal buildings are as substantial as they are attractive and suggests an unmistakable air of solidity”, the article begins.

It notes that Mr. Grierson “bought a commanding block of land … on the west side of Dowling Street, adjoining Mr Brighton’s terrace, and let a contract to Amos Moore to put him up the best shop Dungog can boast of. Amos, working under the plan of that capable Maitland architect, Mr J. Warren Scobie, who has completed excellent work in this district got busy on the job.” Scobie is known as the architect of some grand homes in the area which share stylistic features with the Brown St house.

A house in Paterson which was designed by J. Warren Scobie, named Kalimna, was recently put on the market (early 2024). The online photographs indicate that this 1902 double-brick residence shares with the Brown St double-brick residence a reasonably similar floorplan and a number of close similarities in details. These include French doors opening out to the front of the house from both front rooms, high ceilings, the design of the fireplaces, a wide central hallway with arches, and doors into the side rooms which are offset along the hallway.

Could it be that Scobie designed this house for the Bruyns? It is a strong hypothesis, we feel, although in the absence of the papers relating to the design of the Brown St house, it can never be definitively confirmed. Kalimna is more extravagant, but stylistically and structurally very similar.

Dungog’s population had been growing rapidly, rising from 436 in 1881 to 878 in 1891 and 1169 in 1898. With more people, came more traffic, and more wear and tear on road surfaces. A paragraph in the Dungog section of the “District News” in the Maitland Mercury for Tuesday 3 August 1880, p.7, had reported that “Brown-Street, which has long needed something to be done to it, is at last being formed thirty feet wide, and the contractor seems to be making a good job of it. The expense has been defrayed by private subscription, as we were unable to obtain Government money, although it is really a work of necessity.”

The Maitland Mercury of Tuesday 18 July 1893, p.5, reported that after the 1893 municipal election, the newly-elected councillors (and those defeated at the ballot) each gave a speech to the gathered crowd. Ellen’s brother, Daniel Justin Bruyn, one of the successful candidates, said “he was very thankful for the position in which he was placed”.

In an obvious reference to the state of the roads, the new Councillor Daniel Justin Bruyn said that “he would do all back streets alike; but Dowling-street should be made one of the finest streets in the colony”. Still, into the present day, the matter of road maintenance continues to be a concern for residents of the Dungog Shire; and Brown St itself has quite its share of potholes!

For earlier blogs, see

and for the final blog, see

In exploring the history of the land and house which Elizabeth and I purchased in Dungog a few years ago, I have already noted the early landholders for this property, and investigated the life of Daniel and Sarah Bruyn and their family after Daniel purchased the land in 1858. When Daniel died intestate in 1882, all of his property was made over to his son, Daniel Justin Bryan, whose life we have considered. We turn now to his death.

On 22 September 1886, Daniel Justin Bruyn had made his last Will and Testament “whereby he gave devised and bequeathed all his property of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situate to his sister Ellen Bruyn absolutely and appointed the said Ellen Bruyn the sole Executrix thereof”. On 1 November 1912 Daniel Justin Bruyn died, and that will came into effect.

A Coroner’s Inquest for Daniel Justyn Bruyn of Dungog was held by Walterus Le Brun Brown, J.P., on 2 November 1912. The report of the inquest notes that “cash or property possessed by deceased” was “probably over £10,000”. That equates to around $1.45 million in 2023.

Probate for the estate of Daniel Justin Bryan was granted on 26 February 1913. Daniel had never married and had no descendants; as his will prescribed, this collection of property and cash became the possession of Ellen Bruyn. That was a happy result for her in very sad circumstances. The death of Daniel Justin Bruyn, however had a deeper tragedy at its heart.

The Bathurst National Advocate stated the matter plainly, in a brief report published on Monday 4 November 1912, under the heading PASTORALIST SUICIDES: “Daniel Justin Bruyn, a prominent local pastoralist, drowned himself in the Williams River last night. He left a note saying he was tired of the world and its worries. Deceased was a notable public figure in the town, and formerly an alderman, and holding high positions in all the local associations.”

The next day, the Dungog Chronicle provided a much fuller obituary which provided details of the incident and demonstrated just how high a regard was had for Mr Bruyn in the town (Tuesday, 5 November, 1912, Page 2). “Dungog has never had a more profound sensation than that provided by the tragic end of its most highly respected citizen, Mr. Daniel J. Bruyn, on Saturday morning last”, it began.

“Early that morning those about the town learned the news that he had left a note on the table at his home indicating his intention of taking his life, stating that financial worries robbed him of sleep and that he was tired of life”, it continued. It then offered this sad commentary: “He asked forgiveness of his sister for what he was about to do.”

The Chronicle had been advised that “on the previous evening he had complained of feeling unwell, and had taken some medicine after tea. He had been talking to his sister on the verandah and about eight o’clock got up and walked down the street towards the bridge. That was the last occasion on which he was seen alive.”

This report indicates that Daniel Bruyn did spend time living in the house at Brown Street with his sister, at least at this stage of his life. As both were unmarried, and as the house was ideally placed in the centre of town—next to Dark’s burgeoning general store on Dowling Street, near to the School of Arts where the Municipal Council met—it would make sense for Bruyn of Sugarloaf to have his base in Brown St for such town activities.

Indeed, as the report states, when his sister Ellen “became anxious for his absence … in the early hours of the morning she went into his room, and there on the table, under a brush, she found the note which explained everything”. It continues by noting that upon discovery of Mr. Bruyn’s body, he was “immediately placed upon a stretcher and conveyed to his late home”—that is, the residence in Brown St that he had so recently left.

And, as we have seen, when he was elected to Dungog Council in 1893, his residence is listed as Brown Street. (Michael Williams, in his extensive survey of the historic buildings of Dungog, notes that street numbers were not used until the 1960s; see Ah! Dungog, 2011, p.11.)

The detailed report of Daniel Bruyn’s death in the Dungog Chronicle of 5 November 1912 noted that once his note was discovered and the alarm was raised, “at daylight a large crowd was busily engaged in searching along the river, it being suspected that he would seek the water.”

Sure enough, the report continues, “about eight o’clock Sergt. Bowen discovered the body, fully clothed and with hat on, floating in about 6 feet of water in the river at the foot of Dark’s paddock, just about opposite the railway station, and by a strange coincidence at the precise spot where a similar tragedy occurred a few years since. It is surmised that he walked across the Cooreei bridge and doubled down the river till near the fatal spot and plunged in from that side.” (The Cooreei Bridge crosses the Williams River about a kilometre out of town, on the road that connects Dungog with Stroud.)

The report continues with words that emphasise the regard felt for the deceased: “There was no more highly respected man in the whole of this community than the late Mr.D.J. Bruyn, and his death will remove from our midst, one of the most prominent men … he was recognised as one of Dungog’s notables.” Then, musing on the manner of his death, it opines, “of a genial and equable disposition, a keen business man, and one who never shirked an obligation, it is hard to understand what caused him to terminate his own life.”

The report further offers comments on the character of Mr. Bruyn: he was “noted for his liberality in matters of charity, and he has befriended many a one in this district who will sorely miss him from the town.” The report notes the fitting tribute paid to Daniel Justin Bruyn: “when the news begame known in Dungog, flags were flown half mast from the public buildings”.

In pondering a possible reason for this suicide, the article offers a hypothesis, noting that Daniel Bruyn “has been in indifferent health of late and worried considerably over estates of which he was executor, but his own affairs were in a flourishing state and he was a comparatively wealthy man. It was probably the worry of other’s business that unhinged his mind temporarily and caused him to put a period to his life.” The truth of this hypothesis, however, will never be able to be ascertained.

A correspondent in the Maitland Daily Mercury on Wednesday 6 Nov 1912, p.2, further expresses the dismay of the locals at the news of Daniel’s death: “to say that Dungog and district were struck dumb when it became known that Mr. Daniel Justin Bruyn had left a note expressing his intention to end his life, is putting the truth very mildly. The deceased was about the last person anyone would have expected to do such an act. He was a very quiet man of a retiring disposition, and as far as an onlooker could see had less worry than most people. He was more universally trusted than most men, as proved by the number of wills in which he was appointed an executor, and it is thought that his troubles were not his own, but were those which he voluntarily shouldered for others.”

Of the funeral of Daniel Justin Bruyn, the Dungog Chronicle notes that, as might be expected, it was “one of the largest seen here for many years”. The Anglican minister, the Ven. Archdeacon Luscombe, officiated, and wreaths were laid on the coffin from organisations including the School of Arts, the A. and H. Association, and the Cricket Club. Three of his sisters remained: Ellen Bruyn in Brown St, Elizabeth Cook of Johnson’s Creek north of Stroud Road, and Sarah Landers of Towel Creek in the Armidale district.

Our particular story will continue with Daniel’s sister, Ellen Bruyn … … …

For earlier posts, see

For the story of Ellen Bruyn, see

The land on which the house that we currently own and live in, on Brown Street, Dungog, was part of the original area of land in the town of Dungog that was made available in 1838 to settlers by the Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps.

Of course, this land and the surrounding region had been the land of the Gringai people for millennia; but once the British government started sending convicts to this continent, and began the process of claiming the land from the Indigenous people, the British system of law, and of land and property, became dominant as new settlements were opened up for the incoming settlers.

A bundle of documents which we received when we purchased the property provides information about the sequence of owners, from 1842, when the land was bought by James Fawell, up to 1969, when it was bought by Victoria Jack and Wendy Elizabeth Finney. These documents show that it was owned by a series of men in the middle of the 19th century: James Fawell (1852), Barnet Levey (1852), William Hopkins (1855), John Maberly (1857), and then Daniel Bruyn (1858).

When Daniel Bruyn purchased the land in 1858, two years after arriving on New South Wales, it meant that he could provide a home for his family in Dungog, as well as a site to conduct his business as a Blacksmith. When Daniel Snr died intestate in 1882, all of his property was made over to his son, Daniel Justin Bryan; a few months later, the land he held in Brown St had been purchased by his daughter, Ellen Bruyn. She lived in the house until her death in 1927.

What do we know of the life of the Bruyn family? In the obituary to Miss Ellen Bruyn after her death, published in the Dungog Chronicle of Tuesday 4 October 1927, p.2, we read: “In the memorable flood of 1857, the [Bruyn] family had to be rescued from their home, which, although situated at a comparatively high level, was inundated by the swirling waters. It was the year that eight of the ill-fated Ross family were swept to death from their home on Melbee flat.”

The Bruyn family survived the flood. The names of the members of the Ross family who died in this flood are listed in a report of the inquest held on 1 September 1857, namely: “George Ross, aged 39 years; Mrs. Ross, aged 27 years; William Ross, aged 9 years; Mary Jane Ross, aged 7 years; John Ross, aged 6 years; Elizabeth Ross, aged 4 years; Julia Ross, aged 1 year and 9 months.” (Maitland Mercury, Thursday 3 September 1857, p.2)

The obituary to Ellen Bruyn also reports that “The Bruyn family played an important part in Dungog’s progress, and were prominently identified with every forward movement. They experienced many of the trials and hardships inseparably associated with the early pioneering days, and saw many thrilling happenings.” That’s a very nice tribute to them all—and it would be fascinating to know more about some of these “thrilling happenings”!

We know far more about men in society in the 19th and 20th centuries than we do about women; not only were male occupations more public (“a woman’s place is in the home”, as the sexist, but generally accurate, saying went in those days), but the bias towards males overall is evident in so many ways.

Newspapers articles do report the contributions of women to some charitable and community events and organisations; but it is predominantly the men who serve on Council, buy and sell property, conduct professions and trades, and are in what were seen, at that time, to be leadership roles in the community.

So not much more cannot be said about Sarah Bruyn other than, as a faithful wife and mother of six children, she would have organised and run the Bruyn household with efficiency and diligence. She should always be considered to be there—albeit “in the shadows”—when her husband, Daniel Joseph Bruyn, is mentioned.

And fortuitously, as we shall see, her spinster daughter Ellen would be noted more often in the newspapers of the day and even on property registers (as an adult she owned land adjacent to the holdings of her brother, Daniel Justin). Through her compassion, diligence, and concentrated effort, she was able to make bequests in her will that both reflected her community involvements and that had a life of their own, for two decades and more, for the good of the community. Did she inherit these traits from her mother, perchance?

At the age of 75, the mother of the Bruyn family, Sarah Ellen Bruyn, died on 4 May 1882; her husband Daniel Joseph Bruyn died soon after on 29 August 1882. They are both buried in the Dungog Cemetery.

Daniel died intestate, so there were legal matters to be dealt with. In the first instance, all of the property held by Daniel Joseph Bruyn was to be given over to his son, Daniel Justin Bruyn. The Dungog Chronicle included the following notice:

In the Supreme Court of New South Wales ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION. In the land, goods, chattels, credits, and effects of Daniel Bruyn, late of Dungog, in the Colony of New South Wales, blacksmith, deceased, intestate.

NOTICE is hereby given, that after the expiration of fourteen days from the publication hereof in the Government Gazette, application will be made to this Honorable Court, in its Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, that letters of administration of all and singular, the lands, goods, chattels, credits, and effects of the abovenamed deceased, who died at Dungog aforesaid, on the twenty-ninth day of August last, may be granted to Daniel Justin Bruyn, of Dungog, in the said Colony, blacksmith, son of the said deceased.—Dated this eleventh day of September, A.D. 1882.

RICHARD ALEXANDER YOUNG, Proctor for Applicant, West Maitland. By W. J. Fergusson, 136, Pitt-street, his Agent. 6023 6s. 6d.

It appears that plans were made for this to be duly executed, as a notice in the classified advertising of the Maitland Mercury of Sat 24 Feb 1883, p.7, indicates that the two blocks of land in Brown St are to be sold be auction:

SALE BY PUBLIC AUCTION.

J. ROBSON has received instructions from Mr Daniel Justin Bruyn, Administrator in the Estate of the late Mr. Daniel Bruyn, Blacksmith, of Dungog, to sell by public auction, at Robson’s Hotel, Dungog, on Saturday, 3rd day of March, 1883, at Three o’clock p.m. sharp, 2 HALF-ACRE ALLOTMENTS OF LAND, situated and Fronting Brown-street, in the Town of Dungog, and adjoining the Market Reserve, being Allotments Number 6 and Number 7, of Section Number 5; Together with ALL THE BUILDINGS ERECTED THEREON, which consists of a Comfortable Dwellinghouse, Kitchen, Blacksmith Shop, and other Outbuildings. TITLE PERFECT. Terms cash. 2938

This notice certainly shows that buildings had been erected on the land and were in use well before 1883.

The next piece of information about this property comes from the next Conveyance contained in the bundle of documents we received when purchasing our land. That Conveyance, dated 1 May 1883 (two months after the auction day) indicates that Ellen bought the two blocks of land from her brother Daniel for £160.

“Conveyance dated 31st day of May 1883 … between Ellen Bruyn of Dungog, Spinster, and Daniel Justin Bruyn of Dungog, Blacksmith, Allotment No. Seven of Section No. Five and Allotment No. Six of Section No. Five. Two hundred pounds”.

Before we explore the story of Ellen Bruyn, we need to give due consideration to the life of Daniel Justin Bruyn.

And so to the next chapter in this story … … …

*****

See earlier posts at

and subsequent posts at

The land on which the house that we currently own and live in, on Brown Street, Dungog, was part of the original area of land in the town of Dungog that was made available in 1838 to settlers by the Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps.

Of course, this land and the surrounding region had been the land of the Gringai people for millennia; but once the British government started sending convicts to this continent, and began the process of claiming the land from the Indigenous people, the British system of law, and of land and property, became dominant as new settlements were opened up for the incoming settlers.

A bundle of documents which we received when we purchased the property provides information about the sequence of owners, from 1842, when the land was bought by James Fawell, up to 1969, when it was bought by Victor Jack and Wendy Elizabeth Finney. These documents show that it was owned by a series of men in the middle of the 19th century: James Fawell (1852), Barnet Levey (1852), William Hopkins (1855), John Maberly (1857), and then Daniel Bruyn (1858).

Daniel Bruyn obtained ownership of the land in 1858. A Conveyance dated 30th January 1858, between John Maberly of Windsor, Boot and Shoe Maker, and Daniel Bruyn of Dungog, Blacksmith, reports that “Allotment No. Seven of Section No. Five in the Town of Dungog” changed hands for the price of Fifty three pounds ten shillings. The land would stay in his hands until he died.

What do we know of this man and his family? Daniel Joseph Bruyn was born in Roscommon, Ireland, in the closing years of the 18th century. He migrated to England, and married Sarah Ellen Nichols on 5 February 1837 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire. Sarah had been born in 1807. Daniel’s occupation was Blacksmith.

A number of children were born to Daniel and Sarah in England: Joseph (1837—1905) and Margaret (Dec 1837—1928), both in Birmingham, Warwickshire; Ellen Esther (1839—1927) and Elizabeth Ann (1842—1929), both in Smethwick, Staffordshire.

At that point of time, the current County boundaries were different; Smethwick today is a suburb of the huge city of Birmingham, population now 1.142 million; but in the 1830s it was a small village four miles away from the centre of the town of Birmingham, population then 183,000.

The family travelled to France, where two children were born. A daughter, Mary, arrived in 1845 but died within a year. A son, Daniel Jnr, was born on 26 May 1847, at Graville, Le Havre, Seine. After four years the family returned to England, due to a surge of unrest in French society. Some claims have been made that people were upset about foreigners taking the jobs of French Citizens; many foreigners sought to escape and it is said that most left without their belongings and being paid. Certainly, unemployment and the cost of living was rising, fuelling such unrest.

The Library of Congress Guides contains the following report about the broader political situation of the time:

“The Revolution of 1848, or February Revolution, ended the Orléanist rule and brought in the period of the Second Republic. During this time, many countries in Europe were undergoing revolutions that sought to topple conservative monarchies with liberal democracies … This era also coincided with a deep interest in socialism in France. The Saint Simonian movement was at its height by now. There was a mood of general discontent … Paris became a battleground between numerous factions … equally opposed to one another.

“Election results were not to the satisfaction of the radicals (the popular vote elected moderate and conservative candidates) and as a result the so-called “June Days” erupted, a short-lived civil war in Paris. The rebellion was put down by General Cavaignac, but it took months for the Assembly to come up with a constitution. When it was finally agreed upon it was quite liberal and provided a four-year term President chosen by universal male suffrage. They chose Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (nephew to Napoléon I) to be president of the Second Republic.”

Taken from https://guides.loc.gov/women-in-the-french-revolution/revolutions-rebellions/1789-1830-1848#:~:text=The%20Revolution%20of%201848%2C%20or,conservative%20monarchies%20with%20liberal%20democracies.

Back in England, another daughter, Malvenia (1850—1938) was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire. It seems that Malvenia was also known as Sarah; at her marriage to John Landers of Dungog in 1871 she is identified as “Sarah Malvina Bruen”. They moved to the New England region, and the Electoral Roll for 1930, 12 years after John’s death, lists “Landers, Sarah Malvina, Castle Doyle road, Armidale, home duties”.

The family came to the Colony of New South Wales in 1856 as assisted migrants. Daniel and Sarah arrived on board the Commodore Perry on 1 May 1856 with their five children. The list of immigrants on this ship lists “Daniel Bruyn age 43, Sarah Bruyn age 49, Margaret age 18, Ellen age 16, Elizabeth age 14, Daniel age 9, Sarah age 6”.

Their eldest child Joseph (then aged 19) did not travel with them, although he does appear in New South Wales a few years later. Joseph had been born to Daniel and Sarah prior to their marriage. He was born with his mother’s surname, as Joseph Nichols, and later married under that name.

Joseph Nicholls was 22 when he and his wife and children arrived on the Daphne 1859 as the Nicholls family (Daniel Bruyn was the person who assisted this immigration). Once off the ship Joseph, his wife and children changed their name to Bruyn. Sadly, Joseph and Mary lost four of their children to Diphtheria in March 1866 (Sarah Jane, Ellen, Frederick, and Thomas).

Within two years of arriving in Australia, the Bruyns had moved to Dungog and settled in the town. Some comments in the Dungog Chronicle of Tuesday 4 October 1927, p.2, report that on arrival in Sydney in 1856, “the family came direct to Dungog, arriving here on May 24th.” However, in an interview with Ellen, one of the daughters, conducted many decades later in the last year of her life, the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Tuesday 14 June 1927 reported her as saying that when they came to Australia “they all joined in the gold rush at Hanging Rock” (p.18).

At Hanging Rock in the Armidale region to the northwest of Sydney, gold had been discovered in 1851; by February the next year, 27 cradles were operating with some 200 diggers searching for their fortune. Panning continued for some decades; at its peak there were several thousand people living at Hanging Rock. It is entirely feasible that the Bruyn family had gone there for a brief period in 1856—1857, but I have found no other evidence to substantiate this claim made by Ellen in this 1927 interview.

The same report continues, reporting that the Bruyn family “occupied a house, long since demolished, then owned by Mr. Campbell that stood at the rear of Mrs. M. A. Dark’s present home, and almost opposite the residence that Miss Bruyn occupied for the past few decades.” (This extract is from an obituary to Miss Ellen Bruyn after her death in 1927.)

The residence of Mrs. Dark which is noted in this report would be Coolalie, on Dowling Street; it is referred to as her house because her husband, Henry Charles Dark, had died in 1901, and so it would be known in 1927 as “Mrs Dark’s home”. The house to the rear would have been opposite the land on Brown Street that is the focus of our explorations.

The Mr. Campbell referred to here could be Dougall Campbell, who was a convict assigned in 1828 to Mr. John Hooke. (Hooke gave his name to Hooke St on the northern end of the town; he had been granted 2560 acres in 1828.) If so, we may presume that by the 1850s, Campbell had received his Certificate of Freedom and had become a reputable citizen of the town, as many former convicts have done across the continent.

Just two years after arriving in Dungog, Daniel Bruyn became the owner of “Allotment No. Seven of Section No. Five in the Town of Dungog”. In a Conveyance dated 30 January 1858 between John Maberly of Windsor, Boot and Shoe Maker, and Daniel Bruyn of Dungog, Blacksmith, the transfer was effected for a price of fifty three pounds ten shillings.

The land, facing Brown Street, would stay in the hands of the Bruyn family for over a century—from 1858 to 1968; although, as we shall see, members of the Bruyn family lived there only until 1927. There is good evidence that Daniel conducted his business as a Blacksmith on this property during the two decades or so that the family lived here.

It is not clear when the family moved from the residence behind Mrs. Dark’s home, mentioned in the 1927 obituary of Ellen Bruyn, onto the property across the road where there was a “residence that Miss Bruyn occupied for the past few decades” (until her death in 1927). It is reasonable to hypothesise that the family came to Dungog, found housing in Mr Campbell’s property, purchased the land in Brown Street, had a house built on that land, and then moved in to that building. How soon after the 1858 purchase of this land this move took place, is not known.

It is certainly clear that at some stage Joseph Bruyn also had a foundry built where he could carry out his business as a Blacksmith. One mention of Bruyn’s blacksmithing business comes in a 1934 report of reminiscences by “Mr. Hewlitt Tate, of Lithgow”, in the Dungog Chronicle of Friday 5 January 1934, p.5, entitled DUNGOG’S FIRST BLACKSMITH.

Mr Tate recalls that “The first blacksmith in Dungog, I was led to believe, was Thomas Smith, father of Johnny Smith who was wheelwright in Dungog 70 years ago. He has been dead between 80 and 90 years. Mother used to tell us boys about her grandfather riding over to Stroud when he was sent for by the A.A. Company, to do any special blacksmithing. Mother was then 12 or 13 years of age.

“I remember the late Mr. Kehoe, an old blacksmith, of Dungog, telling us boys that he was in Dungog before the late Mr. Bruyn. Then there was an old Mr. Arrowsmith who used to live along the Stroud road about half a mile the other side of the river.”

Some months later, on Tuesday 17 July 1934, the Dungog Chronicle published a hand-drawn map entitled LOOKING BACK INTO THE PAST: DUNGOG FROM 1855 TO 1867. Key businesses are indicated on the map by numerical coding. In the relevant block of Brown St, on the corner of Dowling St, #56 designates “J. Wade, store”, which was established by John Wade in 1866.

An article in the Australian Dictionary of Biography describes Wade as “an active member of the Methodist Church, Wade was conference representative and circuit steward at Dungog, and later at Ashfield and Mosman. He helped to found the Dungog School of Arts with an abiding friend Rev. Dr J. E. Carruthers who served at that town in 1871–73. Wade was also a founder (1881) and chairman of the Williams River Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. As a Protectionist, he twice unsuccessfully contested the Legislative Assembly seat of Durham.”

Wade’s store was later bought by H.C. Dark and was developed to become the largest general store in Dungog. The present long and imposing two-story building was built in 1897 and extended in 1917.

In 1866, however, Wade’s store would have been a much more modest building. Immediately adjacent to that on the LOOKING BACK INTO THE PAST map is #12, “D. Bruyn, blacksmiths”. An undated image entitled “Bruyn’s Cottage in Brown Street where the park is now” appears to show a family house with white posts, next to a building that most likely was the foundry for Bruyn.

Outside the house are two women (perhaps Sarah and one of her daughters?), while outside the putative foundry are two horses, one held by an apparently-bearded man (perhaps Daniel Bruyn himself?). Certainly, and unsurprisingly given the fashion, a photo of Daniel Bruyn late in his life shows him sporting a generous set of muttonchops and beard.

A decade later than the 1934 publication of this map, the Dungog Chronicle Friday 19 October, 1943 (p.5) published an article entitled “Early Recollections of Dungog” by a person styling themselves simply “Ex-Dungogite”. The recollections in this article includes a discussion of trades in the town. The author notes that “Mr. J. Tierney carried on wheel-wrighting in a general way with which he combined the undertaking business. Mr. Jno Smith, succeeded by Mr. Thos. Gurr, was also in the wheel-wrighting trade in another part of the town.”

With regard to blacksmiths, the author notes that “Mr. J. Keogh was a general blacksmith in the Main Street, while Mr. D. Bruyn carried on a similar business in the hollow in Brown street … Mr. J. Luney first conducted a blacksmithing business in the allotment occupied at present by the newspaper office. He afterwards removed farther up the street.” The town was well-served by blacksmiths—including Daniel Bruyn “in the hollow in Brown street”, on the property he had bought in 1858.

(The writer also speculates that “Miss Ellen Bruyn, if still existant as I trust she is and still well, notwithstanding her sum of honorable years — must be the oldest Dungog resident.” Writing in 1943, the “Ex-Dungogite” appears unaware of Ellen Bruyn’s death, at the age of 88 years, some 16 years earlier.)

To be continued … … …

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